Configuration Reference



Table of Contents


1. Interchange Configuration Files

The Red Hat Interchange 4.8 Configuration Reference is an alphabetical reference to the configuration directives used in Interchange global and catalog configuration files.

Interchange has multiple catalog capability, and therefore splits its configuration into two pieces. One is global, interchange.cfg, and affects every catalog running under it. The other, catalog.cfg is specific to an individual catalog, and has no effect on other catalogs.

1.1. Directive syntax

Configuration directives are normally specified with the directive as the first word on the line, with its value or values following. Capitalization of the directive name is not signifigant. Leading and trailing whitespace is stripped from the line.

Including files in directives

Additional files may be called with an include file notation like this:

DirectiveName <includefile

Files included from interchange.cfg are relative to the Interchange software directory. Files included from catalog.cfg are relative to the catalog directory.

A "here document" can be used to spread directive values over several lines, with the usual Perl <<MARKER syntax. No semicolon is used to terminate the marker. The closing marker must be the only thing on the line. No leading or trailing characters are allowed, not even whitespace. Here is a hypothetical directive using a here document:

        DirectiveName <<EOD
            setting1
            setting2
            setting3
        EOD

That is equivalent to:

        DirectiveName setting1 setting2 setting3

Include single setting from file

        Variable MYSTUFF <file

include

        include common.cfg
        include usertag/*

ifdef and ifndef

        Variable ORDERS_TO email_address
        
        ifdef ORDERS_TO
        ParseVariables Yes
        MailOrderTo __ORDERS_TO__
        ParseVariables No
        endif
        
        ifdef ORDERS_TO =~ /foo.com/
        # Send all orders at foo.com to one place now
        # Set ORDERS_TO to stop default setting
        Variable  ORDERS_TO  1
        MailOrderTo   orders@foo.com
        endif
        
        ifdef ORDERS_TO eq 'nobody@nowhere.com'
        # Better change to something else, set ORDERS_TO to stop default
        Variable  ORDERS_TO  1
        MailOrderTo   someone@somewhere.com
        endif
        
        ifndef ORDERS_TO
        #Needs to go somewhere....
        MailOrderTo  webmaster@localhost
        endif

2. interchange.cfg

The VendRoot directory, specified in the main program interchange, is the default location of all of the Interchange program, configuration, special, and library files. Unless changed in the call to interchange, the main Interchange server configuration file will be interchange.cfg in the VendRoot directory.

The directives defined in interchange.cfg affect the entire Interchange server and all catalogs running under it. Multiple Interchange servers may be run on the same machine with totally independent operation.

Following is an alphabetical listing of all global configuration directives.

2.1. ActionMap *global*

Allows setting of Interchange form actions, usually with a Perl subroutine. Actions are page names like:

process  Perform a processing function
order    Order items
scan     Search based on path info
search   Search based on submitted form variables

The global version of ActionMap applies to all catalogs. If the same action is specified in catalog.cfg, it will pertain. See ActionMap in that section.

2.2. AddDirective *global*

Adds a configuration directive that will be parsed for every catalog.cfg file. Accepts three parameters: the name of the directive, the name of the parser (if any), and the default value (if any). The following definition would add a directive "Foo," with parser "parse_bar," and a default value of "Hello, world!":

   AddDirective  Foo  bar "Hello, world!"

If the parser is not defined, the directive value will be scalar and the same as what the user passes in the config file. If defined, the parser must be extant before it can be referenced, is always resident in Vend::Config, and begins with the string parse_. Examples can be found in the files in the distribution software directory compat/.

2.3. AdminSub *global*

Marks a global subroutine for use only by catalogs that are set to AllowGlobal (see below). Normally global subroutines can be referenced (in embedded Perl) by any catalog.

   AdminSub  dangerous

2.4. AllowGlobal *global*

Specifies catalog identifiers that may define subroutines and UserTag entries that can operate with the full permissions of the server. Don't use this unless the catalog user is trusted implicitly. Default is blank.

   AllowGlobal  simple

Using AllowGlobal is never necessary, and is always dangerous in a multi-user environment. Its use is not recommended.

2.5. AutoVariable *global*

Specifies directives which should be translated to Variable settings. For scalars, the directive name becomes the Variable name and yields its value, i.e. ErrorFile becomes __ErrorFile__, which would by default be error.log. Array variables have a _N added, where _N is the ordinal index, i.e. SafeUntrap becomes __SafeUntrap_0__, __SafeUntrap_1__, etc. Hash variables have a _KEY added, i.e. SysLog becomes __SysLog_command__, __SysLog_facility__, etc. Doesn't handle hash keys that have non-word characters or whitespace. Only single-level arrays and hashes are translated properly.

See AutoVariable in catalog.cfg.

2.6. Catalog *global*

Specifies a catalog that can run using this Interchange server. This directive is usually inserted into interchange.cfg by the makecat program when you build a new catalog.

There are three required parameters, as shown in this example:

   Catalog  simple /home/interchange/simple /cgi-bin/simple

The first is the name of the catalog. It will be referred to by that name in error, warning, and informational messages. It must contain only alphanumeric characters, hyphens, and underscores. It is highly recommended that it be all lower case.

The second is the base directory of the catalog. If the directory does not contain a catalog.cfg file, the server will report an error and refuse to start.

The third is the SCRIPT_NAME of the link program that runs the catalog. This is how the catalog is selected for operation. Any number of alias script names may be specified as additional parameters. This allows the calling path to be different while still calling the same catalog:

   Catalog  simple /home/interchange/simple /cgi-bin/simple /simple

This is useful when calling an SSL server or a members-only alias that requires a username/password via HTTP Basic authorization. All branched links will be called using the aliased URL.

The script names must be unique among CGI program paths that run on this server; the same name cannot be used for more than one catalog unless the FullURL directive is specified. In this case, the parameter may be specified as:

        www.yourcompany.com/cgi-bin/simple
        www.theirs.com/cgi-bin/simple

Each of those 'simple' catalogs would then call a different catalog.

Optionally, individual Catalog directives that specify each of the different parameters may be used. The equivalent of our original example directive above is:

   Catalog simple directory /home/interchange/simple
   Catalog simple script    /cgi-bin/simple
   Catalog simple alias     /simple

Global directives may be specified that will change for that catalog only. This is mostly useful for ErrorFile and DisplayErrors:

   Catalog simple directive ErrorFile /var/log/interchange/simple_error.log

2.7. CheckHTML *global*

Set to the name of an external program that will check the users HTML when they set [flag checkhtml] or [tag flag checkhtml][/tag] in their page.

   CheckHTML  /usr/local/bin/weblint

2.8. ConfigAllAfter *global*

The name of a file (or files) which should be read as a part of every catalog's configuration, after any other configuration files are read. Default is catalog_after.cfg.

   ConfigAllAfter   check_actions.cfg check_variables.cfg

2.9. ConfigAllBefore *global*

The name of a file (or files) which should be read as a part of every catalog's configuration, before any other configuration files are read. Default is catalog_before.cfg.

   ConfigAllBefore   set_actions.cfg set_variables.cfg

2.10. ConfigParseComments *global*

Set to No if you want old-style '#include', '#ifdef', or '#ifndef' to be treated as the comments they appear to be. The default is Yes, which means both '#include' and 'include' do the same thing. (Use a space after the '#' if you really want to comment out the command.)

Interchange prior to version 4.7 used a different syntax for meta-directives 'include', 'ifdef', and 'ifndef' in configuration files. The commands were borrowed from the C preprocessor, and true to their C heritage, they started with '#': '#include', '#ifdef', '#ifndef'. Interchange configuration files, unlike C, uses '#' to begin one-line comments, which meant that a newcomer at first glance might assume that:

#Variable DEBUG 1
#include more.cfg

were both comments, when in fact the second was a live #include command.

To begin to make things more consistent, Interchange 4.7 and up now recognize those meta-directives without the leading '#', and the included demo catalog sets this directive to No so that lines beginning with '#' really are skipped as comments, regardless of what comes after.

2.11. Database *global*

Defines a database which is global and available to all catalogs. Writing can be controlled by catalog. See Database.

2.12. DataTrace *global*

Set DBI to trace at the level specified. Valid values are:

0 - Trace disabled.

1 - Trace DBI method calls returning with results or errors.

2 - Trace method entry with parameters and returning with results.

3 - As above, adding some high-level information from the driver and some internal information from the DBI.

4 - As above, adding more detailed information from the driver. Also includes DBI mutex information when using threaded Perl.

5 and above - As above but with more and more obscure information.

Trace level 1 is best for most Interchange debug situations. Trace will only be enabled when DebugFile is specified, as that file is the target for the trace. Example:

    DataTrace   1

Default is 0. Directive added in 4.7.0.

2.13. DebugFile *global*

Names a file, relative to the Interchange root directory, which should store the output of logDebug statements, and warnings if warnings are enabled.

        DebugFile  /tmp/icdebug

2.14. DisplayErrors *global*

While all errors are reported in the error log file, errors can also be displayed by the browser. This is convenient while testing a configuration. Unless this is set, the DisplayErrors setting in the user catalogs will have no effect. Default is No.

   DisplayErrors       Yes


Note: This changes the value of $SIG{__DIE__} and may have other effects on program operation. This should NEVER be used for normal operation.

2.15. DomainTail *global*

Implements the domain/IP session qualifiers so that only the major domain is used to qualify the session ID. This is a compromise on security, but it allows non-cookie-accepting browsers to use multiple proxy servers in the same domain. Default is Yes.

   DomainTail No

If encrypting credit cards with PGP or GPG, or are using a payment service like CyberCash, look at the WideOpen directive, which enables more browser compatibility at the cost of some security.

2.16. DumpStructure *global*

Tells Interchange to dump the structure of catalogs and the Interchange server to a file with the catalog name and the extension .structure. Use this to see how directives have been set.

2.17. EncryptProgram *global*

Specifies the default encryption program that should be used to encrypt credit card numbers and other sensitive information. Default is gpg if found on the system; then pgpe, if found; then pgp, and finally none, disabling encryption.

This is used to set the default in catalog.cfg, which has its own independent setting of EncryptProgram.

2.18. Environment *global*

Environment variables to inherit from the calling CGI link program. An example might be PGPPATH, used to set the directory which PGP will use to find its key ring.

   Environment  MOD_PERL REMOTE_USER PGPPATH

2.19. ErrorFile *global*

Sets the name of the global error log. The default is error.log in the Interchange software directory.

   ErrorFile  /var/log/interchange/log

Of course, the user ID running the Interchange server must have permission to write that file.

Optionally, syslog error logging can be set up as well. See SysLog.

2.20. FormAction *global*

Allows a form action (like the standard ones return, submit, refresh, etc.) to be set up. It requires a Perl subroutine as a target:

   FormAction foo <<EOR
   sub {
       $CGI->{mv_nextpage} = 'bar';
   }
   EOR

If it returns a true (non-zero, non-empty) value, Interchange will display the page defined in $CGI->{mv_nextpage}. Otherwise, Interchange will not display any page. The default Interchange actions can be overridden, if desired. There is also a catalog-specific version of this directive, which overrides any action of the same name.

The global version affects all catalogs -- there is also a catalog-specific version of FormAction which is protected by Safe.

2.21. FullUrl *global*

Normally Interchange determines which catalog to call by determining the SCRIPT_NAME from the CGI call. This means that different (and maybe virtual) hosts cannot use the same SCRIPT_NAME to call different catalogs. Set FullUrl to Yes to differentiate based on the calling host. Then, set the server name in the Catalog directive accordingly, such as yourdomain.com/cgi-bin/simple. A yes/no directive, the default is No.

   FullUrl  Yes

If it is set in this fashion, all catalogs must be defined in this fashion. NOTE: The individual catalog setting will not work, as this is used before the catalog name is known.

2.22. GlobalSub *global*

Defines a global subroutine for use by the [perl sub] subname arg /perl] construct. Use the "here document" capability of Interchange configuration files to make it easy to define:

   GlobalSub <<EOF

   sub count_orders {
       my $counter = new File::CounterFile "/tmp/count_orders", '1';
       my $number = $counter->inc();
       return "There have been $number orders placed.\n";
   }
   EOF

As with Perl "here documents," the EOF (or other end marker) must be the ONLY thing on the line, with no leading or trailing white space. Do not append a semicolon to the marker. (The above marker appears indented. It should not be that way in the file!)

IMPORTANT NOTE: These global subroutines are not subject to security checks. They can do most anything! For most purposes, scratch subroutines or catalog subroutines (also Sub) are better.

GlobalSub routines are subject to full Perl use strict checking, so errors are possible if lexical variables or complete package qualifications are not used for the variables.

2.23. HammerLock *global*

The number of seconds after which a locked session could be considered to be lost due to malfunction. This will kill the lock on the session. Only here for monitoring of session hand-off. If this error shows up in the error log, the system setup should be examined. Default is 30.

   HammerLock          60

This mostly doesn't apply to Interchange when using the default file-based sessions.

2.24. HitCount *global*

Increments a counter in ConfDir for every access to the catalog. The file is named hits.catalogname, where catalogname is the short catalog identifier. A Yes/No directive, default is No.

   HitCount  Yes

2.25. HouseKeeping *global*

How often, in seconds, the Interchange server will "wake up" and look for user reconfiguration requests and hung search processes. On some systems, this wakeup is the only time the server will terminate in response to a stop command. Default is 60.

   HouseKeeping    5

2.26. Inet_Mode *global*

Determines whether INET-domain sockets will be monitored on startup. Overridden by the command-line parameter -i. Default is Yes.

2.27. IpHead *global*

Implements the domain/IP session qualifiers so that only the first IpQuad dot-quads of the IP address are used to qualify the session ID. The default is 1. This is a slight compromise on security, but it allows non-cookie-accepting browsers, like AOL's V2.0, to use multiple proxy servers.

DomainTail is preferable unless one of your HTTP servers does not do host name lookups. Default is No, and DomainTail must be set to No for it to operate.

   IpHead Yes

2.28. IpQuad *global*

The number of dot-quads that IpHead will look at. Default is 1.

   IpQuad  2

2.29. Locale *global*

Sets the global Locale for use in error messages. Normally set from a file's contents, as in the example before:

   Locale <locale.error

2.30. LockoutCommand *global*

The name of a command (as it would be entered from the shell) that will lock out the host IP of an offending system. The IP address will be substituted for the first occurrence of the string %s. This will be executed with the user ID that Interchange runs under, so any commands that require root access will have to be wrapped with an SUID program.

On Linux, a host may be locked out with:

   ipfwadm -I -i deny -S %s

This would require root permissions, however, under normal circumstances. Use sudo or another method to wrap and allow the command.

A script can be written which modifies an appropriate access control file, such as .htaccess for your CGI directory, to do another level of lockout. A simple command line containing perl -0777 -npi -e 's/deny/deny from %s\ndeny/' /home/me/cgi-bin/.htaccess would work as well (remember, the %s will become the IP address of the offending user).

   LockoutCommand   lockout %s

2.31. LockType *global*

Allows selection of file locking method used throughout Interchange. Options are 'flock', 'fcntl', and 'none'. Added in 4.7.0.

Default is flock. See the flock(2) manpage for details.

The fcntl setting is needed for NFS filesystems; for NFS-based locking to work, the NFS lock daemon (lockd) must be enabled and running on both the NFS client and server. Locking with fcntl works on Linux and should work on Solaris, but is not guaranteed to work on all OSes.

The none setting turns off file locking entirely, but that is never recommended. It might be useful to check if locking is causing hangs on the system.

If you are only accessing sessions on an NFS-mounted directory but the rest of Interchange is on the local filesystem, you can instead set the SessionType catalog directive to 'NFS', which enables fcntl locking for sessions only on a per-catalog basis.

2.32. Mall *global*

Set to Yes to issue cookies only for the current catalog's script. By default, when Interchange issues a cookie it does so for the base domain. This will allow multiple catalogs to operate on the same domain without interfering with each others session ID.

A yes/no directive.

   Mall   Yes

2.33. MaxServers *global*

The maximum number of servers that will be spawned to handle page requests. If more than MaxServers requests are pending, they will be queued (within the defined capability of the operating system, usually five pending requests) until the number of active servers goes below that value.

   MaxServers     4

Default is 10.

2.34. NoAbsolute *global*

Whether Interchange [file ...] and other tags can read any file on the system (that is readable by the user id running the Interchange daemon). The default is No, which allows any file to be read. This should be changed in a multi-user environment to minimize security problems.

   NoAbsolute     Yes

2.35. PIDcheck *global*

If non-zero, enables a check of running Interchange processes during the housekeeping routine. If a process has been running (or is hung) for longer than PIDcheck seconds then a kill -9 will be issued and the server count decremented. During the housekeeping routine, the number of servers checked by MaxServers will be recounted based on PID files.

Default is 0, disabling the check.

   PIDcheck   300

If have long-running database builds, this needs to be disabled. Set it to a high value (perhaps 600, for 10 minutes), or use the offline script.

2.36. PIDfile *global*

The file which will contain the Interchange server process ID so that it can be read to determine which proces should be sent a signal for stopping or reconfiguring the server.

   PIDfile  /var/run/interchange/interchange.pid

This file must be writable by the Interchange server user ID.

2.37. Profiles *global*

Names a file (or files) which contain OrderProfile and SearchProfile settings that will apply for all catalogs.

   Profiles     etc/profiles.common

2.38. SafeUntrap *global*

Sets the codes that will be untrapped in the Safe.pm module and used for embedded Perl and conditional operations. View the Safe.pm documentation by typing perldoc Safe at the command prompt. The default is ftfile sort, which untraps the file existence test operator and the sort operator. Define it as blank to prevent any operators but the default restrictive ones.

   SafeUntrap     ftfile sort ftewrite rand

2.39. SendMailProgram *global*

Specifies the program used to send email. Defaults to '/usr/lib/sendmail'. If it is not found at startup, Interchange will return an error message and refuse to start.

   SendMailProgram     /bin/mailer

A value of 'none' will disable the sending of emailed orders. Orders must be read from a tracking file, log, or by other means.

2.40. SOAP *global*

If set to Yes, allows handling of SOAP rpc requests.

2.41. SOAP_Host

The list of hosts that are allowed to connect to for SOAP rpc requests. Default is localhost 127.0.0.1.

2.42. SOAP_MaxRequests

The maximum number of requests a SOAP rpc server will handle before it commits suicide and asks for a replacement server. This prevents runaway memory leaks.

2.43. SOAP_Perms

The permissions that should be set on a SOAP UNIX-domain socket. Default is 0660, which allows only programs running as the same UID as Interchange to access the socket.

2.44. SOAP_Socket

A list of sockets which should be monitored for SOAP requests. If they fit the form NNN.NNN.NNN.NNN:PPPP, they are IP addresses and ports for monitoring INET-domain sockets, any other pattern is assumed to be a file name for monitoring in the UNIX domain.

   SOAP_Socket 12.23.13.31:7770 1.2.3.4:7770 /var/run/interchange/soap

2.45. SOAP_StartServers

The number of SOAP servers which should be started to handle SOAP requests. Default is 1.

   SOAP_StartServers   10

2.46. SocketFile *global*

The name of the file which is used for UNIX-domain socket communications. Must be in a directory where the Interchange user has write permission.

   SocketFile  /var/run/interchange/interchange.socket

Default is etc/socket or the value of the environment variable MINIVEND_SOCKET. If set, it will override the environment. It can be set on the command line as well:

   bin/interchange -r SocketFile=/tmp/interchange.socket

2.47. SocketPerms *global*

The permissions (prepend a 0 to use octal notation) that should be used for the UNIX-domain socket. Temporarily set this to 666 on the command line to debug a permission problem on vlink.

   bin/interchange -r SocketPerms=0666

2.48. StartServers

The number of Interchange page servers which should be started to handle page requests when in PreFork mode. Default is 1.

   SOAP_StartServers   10

2.49. SubCatalog *global*

Allows definition of a catalog which shares most of the characteristics of another catalog. Only the directives that are changed from the base catalog are added. The parameters are: 1) the catalog ID, 2) the base catalog ID, 3) the directory to use (typically the same as the base catalog), and 4) the SCRIPT_NAME that will trigger the catalog. Any additional parameters are aliases for the SCRIPT_NAME.

The main reason that this would be used would be to conserve memory in a series of stores that share most of the same pages or databases.

   SubCatalog   sample2 sample /usr/catalogs/sample /cgi-bin/sample2

2.50. SysLog *global*

Set up syslog(8) error logging for Interchange.

   SysLog  command  /usr/bin/logger
   SysLog  tag      int1
   SysLog  alert    local3.warn
   SysLog  warn     local3.info
   SysLog  info     local3.info
   SysLog  debug    local3.debug

This would cause global errors to be logged with the command:

   /usr/bin/logger -t int1 -p local3.alert

and cause system log entries something like:

   Oct 26 17:30:11 bill int1: Config 'co' at server startup
   Oct 26 17:30:11 bill int1: Config 'homefn' at server startup
   Oct 26 17:30:11 bill int1: Config 'simple' at server startup
   Oct 26 17:30:11 bill int1: Config 'test' at server startup
   Oct 26 17:30:13 bill int1: START server (2345) (INET and UNIX)

This would work in conjunction with a UNIX syslogd.conf entry of:

        # Log local3 stuff to Interchange log
        local3.*                /var/log/interchange.log

A custom wrapper can be created around it to get it to behave as desired. For instance, if you didn't want to use syslog but instead wanted to log to a database (via DBI), you could create a Perl script named "logdatabase" to log things:

    #!/usr/bin/perl

    my $script_name = "logdatabase";
    use DBI;
    use Getopt::Std;

    getopts('d:p:T:k:')
        or die "$script_name options: $@\n";

    use vars qw/$opt_d $opt_p $opt_T $opt_k/;

    my $dsn   = $opt_d || $ENV{DBI_DSN};
    my $template = $opt_T
        || "insert into log values ('~~KEY~~', '~~LEVEL~~', '~~MSG~~')";

    my $dbh = DBI->connect($dsn)
        or die "$script_name cannot connect to DBI: $DBI::errstr\n";

    my %data;

    $data{KEY} = $opt_k || '';

    local ($/);
    $data{MSG} = <>;

    $data{LEVEL} = $opt_p || 'interchange.info';

    $template =~ s/\~\~(\w+)\~\~/$dbh->quote($data{$1})/;

    my $sth = $dbh->prepare($template)
        or die "$script_name error executing query: $template\n";

    $sth->execute()
        or die "$script_name error executing query: $template\n";

    exit;

2.51. TcpHost *global*

When running in INET mode, using tlink, specifies the hosts that are allowed to send/receive transactions from any catalog on this Interchange server. Can be either an name or IP number, and multiple hosts can be specified in a space-separated list. Default is localhost.

   TcpHost         localhost secure.domain.com

2.52. TcpMap *global*

When running in INET mode, using tlink or the internal HTTP server, specifies the port(s) which will be monitored by the Interchange server. Default is 7786.

To use the internal HTTP server (perhaps only for password-protected queries), a catalog may be mapped to a port. If three catalogs were running on the server www.akopia.com, named simple, sample, and search, the directive might look like this:

   TcpMap    7786 -  7787 simple 7788 sample 7789 search


Note: To map large numbers of ports, use the <<MARKER here document notation in interchange.cfg. With this in effect, the internal HTTP server would map the following addresses:

   *:7786   mv_admin
   *:7787   simple
   *:7788   sample
   *:7789   search


Note: This does not pertain to the use of tlink, which still relies on the CGI SCRIPT_PATH. To enable this, the SCRIPT_PATH aliases /simple, /sample, etc. must be set in the Catalog directive. This would look like:

 Catalog  simple  /home/interchange/catalogs/simple /cgi-bin/simple /simple

To bind to specific IP addresses, add them in the same fashion that they would as an Apache Listen directive:

   TcpMap <<EOF
       127.0.0.1:7786       -
       www.akopia.com:7787  -
   EOF


Note: As usual, the EOF should be at the beginning of a line with no leading or trailing whitespace.

2.53. TemplateDir *global*

Sets a directory which will be searched for pages if not found in the user's pages directory. Interchange uses this; use it to supply some default pages so the user will not have them in their directory.

   TemplateDir    /usr/local/interchange/default_pages

The user's page, if it exists, will take precedence. There is also a catalog-specific version of this directive. If a page is found in that directory (or directories), it will take precedence.

2.54. TolerateGet *global*

Set to 'Yes' to enable parsing of both GET data and POST data when a POST has been submitted. The default is 'No', which means that GET data is ignored during a POST. Unfortunately this has to be a global setting because at URL parse time, the Interchange daemon doesn't yet know which catalog it's dealing with (due to catalog aliases, etc.).

2.55. UrlSepChar *global*

Sets the character which separates form parameters in Interchange-generated URLs. Default is &.

2.56. Unix_Mode *global*

Determines whether the UNIX-domain socket will be monitored on startup. Overridden by the command-line parameter -u. Default is Yes.

2.57. UserTag *global*

This defines a UserTag which is global in nature, meaning not limited by the Safe.pm module, and is is available to all Interchange catalogs running on the server. Otherwise, this is the same as a catalog UserTag.

2.58. Variable *global*

Defines a global variable that will be available in all catalogs with the notation @@VARIABLENAME@@. Variable identifiers must begin with a capital letter, and can contain only word characters (A-Z,a-z,0-9 and underscore). They are case-sensitive. If using the ParseVariables directive, only variables in ALL CAPS will be parsed. These are substituted first in any Interchange page, and can contain any valid Interchange tags including catalog variables.

   Variable   DOCUMENT_ROOT   /usr/local/etc/httpd/htdocs

If a variable is called with @_VARIABLE_@, and there is no catalog Variable with its name, the global Variable value will be inserted.

There are several standard variables which should not be used:

MV_FILE

MV_NO_CRYPT

MV_PAGE

CURRENCY, MV_CURRENCY

LANG, MV_LANG

Some global variables can be set to affect Interchange:

MV_DOLLAR_ZERO

Setting Result
(not set) 'interchange'
0 (do nothing)
1 'interchange --> (CATROOT)'
string 'string'

2.59. VarName *global*

Sets the names of variables that will be remapped to and from the URL when Interchange writes it. For instance, to display the variable mv_session_id as session in the users URL:

   VarName   mv_session_id  session

The default can also be set in the etc/varnames file after the first time Interchange is run. Setting it in interchange.cfg is probably better for clarity.

There is also a catalog-specific version of this setting.


3. catalog.cfg

Each catalog must have a catalog.cfg file located in its base catalog directory. It contains most of the configurable parameters for Interchange. Each is independent from catalog to catalog.

Additional configuration techniques are available in the catalog.cfg file. First, set a Variable and use its results in a subsequent configuration setting if ParseVariables is on:

   Variable   SERVER_NAME  www.akopia.com
   Variable   CGI_URL      /cgi-bin/demo

   ParseVariables Yes
   VendURL    http://__SERVER_NAME____CGI_URL__
   ParseVariables No

Define subroutine watches

3.1. Programming Watch Points in catalog.cfg

Almost any configuration variable can be set up to be tied to a subroutine if the Tie::Watch module installed. It uses a notation like the <<HERE document, but <&HERE is the notation. Here is a simple case:

   MailOrderTo orders@akopia.com
   MailOrderTo <&EOF
   sub {
       my($self, $default) = @_;
       if($Values->{special_handling}) {
           return 'vip@akopia.com';
       }
       else {
           return $default;
       }
   }
   EOF

When the order is mailed out, if the user has a variable called special_handling set in their session (from UserDB, perhaps), the order will be sent to 'vip@akopia.com.' Note the single quotes to prevent problems with the @ sign. Otherwise, the order will get sent to the previously defined value of orders@akopia.com.

If the configuration value being watched is a SCALAR, the subroutine gets the following call:

   &{$subref}(SELF, PREVIOUS_VALUE)

The subroutine should simply return the proper value.

SELF is a reference to the Tie::Watch object (read its documentation for what all it can do) and PREVIOUS_VALUE is the previously set value for the directive. If set after the watch is set up, it will simply have the effect of destroying the watch and having unpredictable effects. (In the future, a "Store" routine may be able to be set up that can subsequently set values).

If the configuration value being watched is an ARRAY, the subroutine gets the following call:

   &{$subref}(SELF, INDEX, PREVIOUS_VALUE)

INDEX is the index of the array element being accessed. Setting up watch points on array values is not recommended. Most Interchange subroutines call arrays in their list context, and no access method is provided for that.

If the configuration value being watched is a HASH, the subroutine gets the following call:

   &{$subref}(SELF, KEY, PREVIOUS_VALUE)

KEY is the index into the hash, an example of HASH type Interchange configuration values. NOTE: The following is not recommended for performance reasons. The Variable is a commonly used thing and should not bear the extra overhead of tieing, but it illustrates the power of this operation:

   Variable TESTIT Unwatch worked.

   Variable <&EOV
   sub {
       my ($self, $key, $orig) = @_;
       if($key eq 'TESTIT') {
           # only the first time
           if($Scratch->{$key}++) {
               $self->Unwatch();
               return $orig->{TESTIT};
           }
           else {
               return "Tie::Watch works! -- name=$Values->{name}";
           }
       }
       else {
           return $orig->{$key};
       }
   }
   EOV

The first time __TESTIT__ is called for a particular user, it will return the string "Tie::Watch works! -- name=" along with their name set in the session (if that exists). Any other variables will receive the value that they were set to previously. Once the TESTIT key has been accessed for that user, the watch is dropped upon the next access.

3.2. Configuration Directives in catalog.cfg

All directives except MailOrderTo and VendURL have default values and are optional, though most catalogs will want to configure some of them.

3.3. ActionMap

Allows setting of Interchange actions, usually with a Perl subroutine. Actions are page names like:

process  Perform a processing function
order    Order items
scan     Search based on path info
search   Search based on submitted form variables

These are the standard supplied actions for Interchange. They can be overwritten with user-defined versions if desired. For example, to ignore the order action, set:

   ActionMap  order  sub { return 1 }

When the leading part of the incoming path is equal to order, it will trigger an action. The page name will be shifted up, and the order stripped from the page name. So this custom order action would essentially perform a no-op, and a URL like:

   <A HREF="[area order/nextpage]"> Go to the next page </A>

would be the equivalent of "[area nextpage]." If the action does not return a true (non-zero, non-blank) status, no page will be displayed by Interchange, not even the special missing page. A response may also be generated via Perl or MVASP.

The standard process action has a number of associated FormAction settings. Besides using Perl, Interchange tags may be used in an action, though they are not nearly as efficient.

3.4. AlwaysSecure

Determines whether checkout page operations should always be secure. Set it to the pages that should always be secure, separated by spaces and/or tabs.

   AlwaysSecure    ord/checkout

3.5. AsciiTrack

A file name to log formatted orders in. Unless preceded by a leading '/', will be placed relative to the catalog directory. Disabled by default.

   AsciiTrack     etc/tracking.asc

If a Route is set up to supplant, this is ignored.

3.6. Autoend

Sets an action that is automatically performed at the end every access. It is performed after any page parsing occurs, just before the transaction ends. See Autoload.

3.7. Autoload

Sets an action that is automatically performed for every access. It is performed before any page parsing occurs, and before the action or page is even determined. Can contain ITL tags or a global subroutine name. If the return value is true, a normal display of $CGI->{mv_nextpage} will occur -- if it returns a false (zero, undef, or blank) value, no page will be processed.

As an example, to remap any mv_nextpage accesses to the private subdirectory of pages, set:

   Autoload   [perl] $CGI->{mv_nextpage} =~ s:^private/:public/:; [/perl]

3.8. AutoModifier

Sets an attribute in a shopping cart entry to the field of the same name in the ProductsFile pertaining to this item. This is useful when doing shipping calculations or other embedded Perl that is based on item attributes. To set whether an item is defined as "heavy" and requires truck shipment, set:

   AutoModifier  heavy

When an item is added to the shopping cart using Interchange's routines, the heavy attribute will be set to the value of the heavy field in the products database. In the default demo that would be products. Any changes to ProductFiles would affect that, of course.

Some values are used by Interchange and are not legal:

       mv_mi
       mv_si
       mv_ib
       group
       code
       quantity
       item

3.9. AutoVariable

Specifies directives which should be translated to Variable settings. For scalars, the directive name becomes the Variable name and yields its value, i.e. DescriptionField becomes __DescriptionField__, which would by default be description. Array variables have a _N added, where _N is the ordinal index, i.e. ProductFiles becomes __ProductFiles_0__, __ProductFiles_1__, etc. Hash variables have a _KEY added, i.e. SpecialPage becomes __SpecialPage_missing__, __SpecialPage_violation__, etc. Doesn't handle hash keys that have non-word characters or whitespace. Only single-level arrays and hashes are translated properly.

3.10. CommonAdjust

Settings for Interchange pricing. See Chained pricing.

   CommonAdjust    pricing:q2,q5,q10,q25, ;products:price, ==size:pricing

3.11. ConfigDir

The default directory where directive values will be read from when using the <file notation. Default is config. The name is relative to the catalog directory unless preceded by a /.

   ConfigDir      variables

This can be changed several times in the catalog.cfg file to pick up values from more than one directory. Another possibility is to use a Variable setting to use different templates based on a setting:

   Variable   TEMPLATE   blue

   ParseVariables Yes
   ConfigDir  templates/__TEMPLATE__
   ParseVariables No
   Variable   MENUBAR   <menubar
   Variable   LEFTSIDE  <leftside
   Variable   BOTTOM    <bottom
   ConfigDir config

This will pick the templates/blue template. If TEMPLATE is set to red, it would read the variables from templates/red.

3.12. CookieDomain

Allows a domain to be set so that multiple servers can handle traffic. For example, to use server addresses of secure.yourdomain.com and www.yourdomain.com, set it to:

   CookieDomain    .yourdomain.com

More than one domain can be set. It must have at least two periods or browsers will ignore it.

3.13. CookieLogin

Allows users to save their username/password (for Vend::UserDB) in a cookie. Expiration is set by SaveExpire and is renewed each time they log in. To cause the cookie to be generated originally, the CGI variable mv_cookie_password or mv_cookie_username must be set. The former causes both username and password to be saved; the latter just the username.

   CookieLogin  Yes

Default is No.

3.14. Cookies

Determines whether Interchange will send (and read back) a cookie to get the session ID for links that go outside the catalog. Allows arbitrary HREF links to be placed in Interchange pages, while still saving the contents of the session. The default is Yes.

   Cookies         Yes

If the Cookies directive is enabled, and mv_save_session is set upon submission of a user form (or in the CGI variables through a Perl GlobalSub), the cookie will be persistent for the period defined by SaveExpire.


Note: This should almost always be "Yes."

Caching, timed builds, and static page building will never be in effect unless this directive is enabled.

3.15. CreditCardAuto

If set to Yes, enables the automatic encryption and saving of credit card information. In order for this to work properly, the EncryptProgram directive must be set to properly encode the field. The best way to set EncryptProgram is with PGP in the ASCII armor mode. This option uses the following standard fields on Interchange order processing forms:

mv_credit_card_number

mv_credit_card_exp_all

mv_credit_card_exp_month

mv_credit_card_exp_year

mv_credit_card_error

mv_credit_card_force

mv_credit_card_separate

mv_credit_card_info

mv_credit_card_valid

PGP is recommended as the encryption program, though remember that U.S. commercial organizations may require a license for RSA. Interchange will work with GPG, the Gnu Privacy Guard.

   CreditCardAuto     Yes

3.16. CustomShipping

If not blank, causes an error log entry if the shipping file entry is not found. Not otherwise used for shipping. See SHIPPING for how to go about doing that.

   CustomShipping      Yes

3.17. Database

Definition of an arbitrary database, in the form "Database database file type," where "file" is the name of an ASCII file in the same format as the products database. The file is relative to VendRoot. Records can be accessed with the [data database field key] tag. Database names are restricted to the alphanumeric characters (including the underscore), and it is recommended that they be either all lower or all upper case. See DATABASES.

   Database      reviews  reviews.txt  CSV

3.18. DatabaseDefault

Defines default parameters for a database. This can be used to set a default WRITE_CONTROL setting, set a default USER or PASSWORD, etc. It accepts any scalar setting, which means all except:

ALTERNATE_* BINARY COLUMN_DEF DEFAULT FIELD_ALIAS FILTER_* NAME NUMERIC POSTCREATE WRITE_CATALOG

This default setting is made when the table is initially defined, i.e. explicit settings for the database itself override the defaults set.

   DatabaseDefault      WRITE_CONTROL   1
   DatabaseDefault      WRITE_TAGGED    1

This setting must be made *before* the database is defined. To reset its value to empty, use the Replace directive.

   Replace DatabaseDefault

3.19. DefaultShipping

This sets the default shipping mode by initializing the variable mv_ship_mode. If not set in catalog.cfg, it is default.

   DefaultShipping     UPS

Somewhat deprecated, the same thing can be achieved with:

   ValuesDefault   mv_shipmode UPS

3.20. DescriptionField

The field that will be accessed with the [item-description] element.

   DescriptionField    description

Default is description. It is not a fatal error if this field does not exist. This is especially important for on-the-fly items. If there is an attribute set to the same name as DescriptionField, this will be used for display.

3.21. DirConfig

DirConfig allows you to batch-set a bunch of variables from files. The syntax:

DirConfig directive-name directory-glob

directive-name is usually Variable, but could be any hash-based directive. (No other standard directives currently make sense to set this way.)

directory-glob is a filespec that could encompass multiple directories. Files are ignored.

The directories are read for file *names* that contain only word characters, i.e. something that would be a valid Variable. (This alone might make it not suitable for other uses, but picking up the junk from the in-directory-backup-file people would be intolerable.)

Then the contents of the file is used to set the variable of the file name.

The source file name is kept in $Vend::Cfg->{DirConfig}{Variable}{VARNAME}, for use if dynamic_variables Pragma is set.

Pragma dynamic_variables enables dynamic updating of variables from files. Pragma dynamic_variables_files_only restricts dynamic variables to files only -- otherwise variables are dynamically read from the VarDatabase definition as well.

With dynamic variables, all @_VARIABLE_@ and __VARIABLE__ settings are checked first to see if the source file is defined. If there is a key present, even if its contents are blank, it is returned. Example: in the case of this catalog.cfg entry:

DirConfig Variable templates/foundation/regions

If the file NOLEFT_TOP is present at catalog config time, __NOLEFT_TOP__ will equal [include templates/foundation/regions/NOLEFT_TOP].

3.22. DisplayErrors

If the administrator has enabled DisplayErrors globally, setting this to "Yes" will display the error returned from Interchange in case something is wrong with embedded Perl programs, tags, or Interchange itself. Usually, this will be used during development or debugging. Default is No.

   DisplayErrors       Yes

3.23. DynamicData

When set to one or more Interchange database identifiers, any pages using data items from the specified database(s) will not be cached or built statically. This allows dynamic updating of certain arbitrary databases (even the products database) while still allowing static/cached page performance gains on pages not using those data items.

   DynamicData         inventory

Overridden by [tag flag build][/tag], depending on context.

3.24. EncryptProgram

Contains a program command line specification that indicates how an external encryption program will work. Two placeholders, %p and %f, are defined, which are replaced at encryption time with the password and temporary file name respectively. See Order Security. This is separate from the PGP directive, which enables PGP encryption of the entire order.

If PGP is the encryption program (Interchange determines this by searching for the string pgp in the command string), no password field or file field need be used. The field mv_credit_card_number will never be written to disk in this case.

   EncryptProgram      /usr/local/bin/pgp -feat sales@company.com

If the order Route method of sending orders is used (default in the demo), this sets the default value of the encrypt_program attribute.

3.25. ErrorFile

This is where Interchange will write its runtime errors for THIS CATALOG ONLY. It can be shared with other catalogs or the main Interchange error log, but if it is root-based, permission to write the file is required.

   ErrorFile   /home/interchange/error.log

3.26. ExtraSecure

Disallows access to pages which are marked with AlwaysSecure unless the browser is in HTTPS mode. A Yes/No directive, the default is 'No.'

   ExtraSecure  Yes

3.27. Filter

Assigns one or more filters (comma separated) to be automatically applied to a variable.

As an example, multiple form variable submissions on the same page come back null-separated, like 'value1\0value2\0value3'. To automatically change those nulls to spaces, you could use this directive:

Filter  mail_list  null_to_space

Of course you could just as easily use the regular [filter] tag on the page if the filter is only going to be used in a few places.

See the ictags document for more information, including a complete list of filters.

3.28. FormAction

Allows set up of a form action (like the standard ones return, submit, refresh, etc.). It requires a Perl subroutine as a target:

   FormAction foo <<EOR
   sub {
       $CGI->{mv_nextpage} = 'bar';
   }
   EOR

If it returns a true (non-zero, non-empty) value, Interchange will display the page defined in $CGI->{mv_nextpage}. Otherwise, Interchange will not display any page. The default Interchange actions can be overridden if desired. There is also a global version of this directive, which is overridden if a catalog-specific action exists.

3.29. FormIgnore

Set to the name(s) of variables that should not be carried in the user session values. Must match exactly and are case sensitive.

   FormIgnore    mv_searchtype

3.30. FractionalItems

Whether items in the shopping cart should be allowed to be fractional, i.e., 2.5 or 1.25. Default is No.

   FractionalItems     Yes

3.31. Glimpse

The pathname for the glimpse command, used if glimpse searches are to be enabled. To use glimpseserver, the -C, -J, and -K tags must be used.

   Glimpse  /usr/local/bin/glimpse -C -J srch_engine -K2345

3.32. History

How many of the most recent user clicks should be stored in the session history. Default is 0.

3.33. HTMLsuffix

The file extension that will be seen as a page in the pages directory. Default is .html.

   HTMLsuffix .htm

3.34. ImageAlias

Aliases for images, ala Apache/NCSA, ScriptAlias, and Alias directives. Relocates images based in a particular directory to another for Interchange use; operates after ImageDir. Useful for editing Interchange pages with an HTML editor. Default is blank.

   ImageAlias  /images/  /thiscatalog/images/

3.35. ImageDir

The directory where all relative IMG and INPUT source file specifications are based. IT MUST HAVE A TRAILING / TO WORK. If the images are to be in the DocumentRoot (of the HTTP server or virtual server) subdirectory images, for example, use the ImageDir specification '/images/'. This would change SRC="order.gif" to SRC="/images/order.gif" in IMG and INPUT tags. It has no effect on other SRC tags.

   ImageDir /images/

Can be set in the Locale settings to allow different image sets for different locales (MV3.07 and up).

3.36. ImageDirInternal

A value for ImageDir only when the internal HTTP server is in use. It must have a trailing / to work, and should always begin with a fully-qualified path starting with http://.

   ImageDirInternal http://www.server.name/images/

3.37. ImageDirSecure

A value for ImageDir only when the pages are being served via HTTPS. It must have a trailing / to work, and should always begin with a fully-qualified path starting with http://.

   ImageDirSecure   /secure/images/

This is useful if using separate HTTPS and HTTP servesr, and cannot make the image directory path heads match.

3.38. Locale

Sets the special locale array. Tries to use POSIX setlocale based on the value of itself, then tries to accept a custom setting with the proper definitions of mon_decimal_point, thousands_sep, and frac_digits, which are the the only international settings required. Default, if not set, is to use US-English settings.

Example of the custom setting:

   Locale     custom mon_decimal_point , mon_thousands_sep . frac_digits 0

Example of POSIX setlocale for France, if properly aliased:

   Locale     fr

See setlocale(3) for more information. If embedded Perl code is used to sort search returns, the setlocale() will carry through to string collation.

See Internationalization.

3.39. LocaleDatabase

Set to the Interchange database identifier of a table that contains Locale settings. These settings add on to and overwrite any that are set in the catalog configuration files, including any include files.

   Database       locale  locale.asc  TAB
   LocaleDatabase locale

3.40. MailOrderTo

Specifies the e-mail address to mail completed orders to.

       MailOrderTo  orders@xyzcorp.com

If 'none' is specified, no e-mailed order will be sent.

3.41. NoCache

The names of Interchange pages that are not to be built statically if STATIC PAGE BUILDING is in use. If the name is a directory, no pages in that directory (or any below it) will be cached or built statically.

   NoCache    ord
   NoCache    special

3.42. NoImport

When set to one or more Interchange database identifiers, those database(s) will never be subject to import. Useful for SQL databases or databases that will "never" change.

   NoImport   inventory

3.43. NonTaxableField

The name of the field in the products database that is set (to 1 or Yes) if an item is not to be taxed. Interchange will log an error and tax it anyway if the field doesn't exist in the database. Blank by default, disabling the feature.

   NonTaxableField    wholesale

3.44. NoSearch

Here you can provide one or more filename fragments that will be matched against the file name used in any attempted search (the mv_search_file or 'fi' attribute). You may separate multiple match strings with whitespace, and may include shell-style wildcards.

The default setting is 'userdb', which means that by default you cannot use Interchange-style searches on the userdb table. (Pure SQL searches still work with it, however.)

For example, consider this setting:

   NoSearch  userdb  .*  *.secret

In this case any search file with 'userdb' in its name, or beginning with a dot, or ending in '.secret', will not be searchable.

3.45. OfflineDir

The location of the offline database files for use with the Interchange offline database build command. Set to "offline" as the default, and is relative to VendRoot if there is no leading slash.

   OfflineDir          /usr/data/interchange/offline

3.46. OnFly

Enables on-the-fly item additions to the shopping cart. If set to the name of a valid UserTag, that tag definition will be used to parse and format the item with the following call:

   $item = Vend::Parse::do_tag($Vend::Cfg->{OnFly},
                                   $code,
                                   $quantity,
                                   $fly[$j],
                               );

$fly[$j] is the value of mv_order_fly for that item. An onfly tag is provided by Interchange. See <On-the-fly> ordering.

3.47. OrderCounter

The name of the file (relative to catalog root if no leading /) that maintains the order number counter. If not set, the order will be assigned a string based on the time of the order and the user's session number.

   OrderCounter       etc/order.number

Bear in mind that Interchange provides the order number as a convenience for display, and that no internal functions depend on it. Custom order number routines may be defined and used without fear of consequences.

If a Route is set up to supplant and the counter attribute is set there, this is ignored.

3.48. OrderLineLimit

The number of items that the user is allowed to place in the shopping cart. Some poorly-mannered robots may "attack" a site by following all links one after another. Some even ignore any robots.txt file that may have been created. If one of these bad robots orders several dozen or more items, the time required to save and restore the shopping cart from the user session may become excessive.

If the limit is exceeded, the command defined in the Global directive LockoutCommand will be executed and the shopping cart will be emptied. The default is 0, disabling the check. Set it to a number greater than the number of line items a user is ever expected to order.

   OrderLineLimit   50

3.49. OrderProfile

Allows an unlimited number of profiles to be set up, specifying complex checks to be performed at each of the steps in the checkout process. The files specified can be located anywhere. If relative paths are used, they are relative to the catalog root directory.

   OrderProfile    etc/profiles.order etc/profiles.login

The actions defined here are also used for mv_click actions if there is no action defined in scratch space. They are accessed by setting the mv_order_profile variable to the name of the order profile. Multiple profiles can reside in the same file, if separated by __END__ tokens, which must be on a line by themselves.

The profile is named by placing a name following a __NAME__ pragma:

 __NAME__ billing

The __NAME__ must begin the line, and be followed by whitespace and the name. The search profile can then be accessed by <mv_order_profile="billing">. See Advanced Multi-level Order Pages.

3.50. OrderReport

The location of the simple order report file. Defaults to etc/report.

   OrderReport          /data/order-form

3.51. PageDir

Location of catalog pages. Defaults to the pages subdirectory in the VendRoot directory.

   PageDir    /data/catalog/pages

Can be set in the Locale settings to allow different page sets for different locales.

3.52. PageSelectField

Sets a products database column which can be used to select the on-the-fly template page. This allows multiple on-the-fly pages to be defined. If the field is empty (no spaces), the default flypage will be used.

   PageSelectField    display_page

3.53. ParseVariables

Determines whether global and catalog variables will be parsed in the configuration file. Default is No. The foundation catalog.cfg turns ParseVariables on and usually expects it to be on.

   Variable STORE_ID  topshop
   ParseVariables Yes
   StaticDir  /home/__STORE_ID__/www/cat
   ParseVariables No

3.54. Password

The encrypted or unencrypted password (depending on Variable MV_NO_CRYPT) that will cause internal authorization checks for RemoteUser to allow access.

Below is the encrypted setting for a blank password.

   Password                bAWoVkuzphOX.

3.55. PGP

If credit card information is to be accepted, and the e-mailed order will go over an insecure network to reach its destination, PGP security should be used. The key ring to be used must be for the user that is running the Interchange server, or defined by the environment variable PGPPATH, and the key user specified must have a key on the public key ring of that user.

   PGP        /usr/local/bin/pgp -feat orders@company.com

If this directive is non-null, the PGP command string as specified will be used to encrypt the entire order in addition to any encryption done as a result if CreditCardAuto. If, for some reason, an error comes from PGP, the customer will be given the special page failed.

If a Route is set up to supplant, this is ignored.

3.56. Pragma

Sets the default value of an Interchange pragma. The directive is set like this:

   Pragma my_pragma_name

To enable a pragma for only a particular page, set it anywhere in the page:

   [pragma my_pragma_name]

To disable a pragma for a particular page, set it anywhere in the page:

   [pragma my_pragma_name 0]

Descriptions of each pragma follow.

dynamic_variables

dynamic_variables_file_only

no_html_parse

Disallows HTML tag parsing. This is a big parser performance gain and is enabled in the demo catalog.

When this pragma is set, you can't encapsulate Interchange tags inside HTML tags like this:

   <P MV="if scratch something"> ... </P>

Note that a page with no HTML parsing is a good place to put a DTD (document type descriptor).

no_image_rewrite

Prevents image locations in pages from being altered by Interchange. Added in Interchange 4.7.0.

Interchange normally rewrites image locations to point to ImageDir. This applies to image locations mentioned in <img src="...">, <input src="...">, <body background="...">, <table background="...">, and <tr/th/td background="...">.

When this pragma is not set, the following tag:

   <img src="fancy.gif">

Would, assuming an ImageDir set to /foundation/images, be transformed into:

   <img src="/foundation/images/fancy.gif">

When pragma no_image_rewrite is set, the <img> tag would remain unchanged.

safe_data

By default Interchange does not allow data returned from databases to be reparsed for Interchange tags. Setting the safe_data pragma eliminates this restriction.

If for some reason you want to have tags in your database, for example, to use [page ...] for catalog-internal hyperlinks in your product descriptions, you need to enable safe_data. Some things to consider:

  1. It may be better to use the safe_data attribute available to certain tags instead of the pragma, or perhaps to use [pragma] for a whole page or [tag pragma] ... [/tag] for a small block, instead of a catalog-wide Pragma directive.
  2. In any case it is strongly recommended that you surround the area with [restrict] ... [/restrict] tags to allow only the specific (hopefully relatively safe) set of tags you expect to appear, such as [page] or [area]. Expect security compromises if you allow [calc] or [perl], or other extremely powerful tags.
  3. Be certain that you know everywhere the data in your database will be used. Will it always be possible to reparse for tags? What about when it's used to create an emailed plain-text receipt -- will a literal '[page ...]' tag show up in the product description on the receipt? Would the desired output of '<a href="...">' be any better in a plaintext situation? What if you access your database from applications other than Interchange? You'll then have to decide what to do with such tags; perhaps you can simply strip them, but will the missing tag output cause you any trouble?

In short, safe_data is disabled by default for a reason, and you should be very careful if you decide to enable it.

(Watch out for parse order with [tag pragma] or [restrict] when used with lists that retrieve data from the database, as in [prefix-*] and the flypage. Loops parse before regular tags like [tag] and [restrict], and thus aren't affected by it.)

strip_white

Set this to strip whitespace from the tops of HTML pages output by Interchange. Such whitespace usually comes from Interchange tags at the top of the page. The pragma's purpose is mostly to make 'view source' in the browser a slightly more tolerable experience.

Default is off; whitespace is unchanged.

3.57. PriceCommas

If no commas are desired in price numbers (for the [item-price] tag), set this to No. The default is to use commas (or whatever is the thousands separator for a locale).

   PriceCommas         no

This is overridden if a Locale price_picture is set.

3.58. PriceDivide

The number the price should be divided by to get the price in units (dollars or such). The default is one. If penny pricing is used, set it to 100.

   PriceDivide         100

Can be set in the Locale settings to allow a price adjustment factor for different currencies.

3.59. PriceField

The field in the product database that will be accessed with the [item-price] element. Default is "price."

   PriceField          ProductPrice

Can be set in the Locale settings to allow different price fields for different currencies.

3.60. ProductDir

Location of the database files. Defaults to the products subdirectory of the VendRoot directory. May not be set to an absolute directory unless NoAbsolute is defined as No.

   ProductDir          /data/catalog/for-sale

Most people never set this directive and use the default of products.

3.61. ProductFiles

Database tables that should be seen as the "products" database.

   ProductFiles    vendor_a vendor_b

The key thing about this is that each will be searched in sequence for a product code to order or an [item-field ....] or [loop-field ...] to insert. The main difference between [item-field ....] and [item-data table ...] is this fall-through behavior.

Default is products.

3.62. ReadPermission and WritePermission

By default, only the user account that Interchange runs under (as set by the SETUID permission on vlink) can read and write files created by Interchange. WritePermission and ReadPermission can be set to user, group, or 'world'.

   ReadPermission      group
   WritePermission     group

3.63. RemoteUser

The value of the HTTP environment variable REMOTE_USER that will enable catalog reconfiguration. HTTP basic authentication must be enabled for this to work. Default is blank, disabling this check.

   RemoteUser   interchange

3.64. Replace

Causes a directive to be emptied and re-set (to its default if no value is specified). Useful for directives that add to the value by default.

   Replace NoCache ord special multi reconfig query

Capitalization must be exact on each directive.

3.65. Require

Forces a Perl module, global UserTag, or GlobalSub to be present before the catalog will configure. This is useful when transporting catalogs to make sure they will have all needed facilities.

   Require usertag   email
   Require globalsub form_mail
   Require module    Business::UPS

3.66. RobotLimit

The RobotLimit directive defines the number of consecutive pages a user session may access without a 30 second pause. If the limit is exceeded, the command defined in the Global directive LockoutCommand will be executed and catalog URLs will be rewritten with host 127.0.0.1, sending the robot back to itself. The default is 0, disabling the check.

   RobotLimit  200

3.67. Route

Sets up order routes. See Custom Order Routing. There are examples in the demo simple.

3.68. SalesTax

If non-blank, enables automatic addition of sales tax based on the order form. The value is one of three types of values:

multi

[itl-tags]

var1, var2

       SalesTax            zip state

3.69. SalesTaxFunction

A Perl subroutine that will return a hash reference with the sales tax settings. This can be used to query a database for the tax for a particular vendor:

   SalesTaxFunction  <<EOR
         my $vendor_id = $Session->{source};
       my $tax = $TextSearch->hash( {
                           se => $vendor_id,
                           fi => 'salestax.asc',
                           sf => 'vendor_code',
                           ml => 1000,
                           } );
       $tax = {} if ! $tax;
       $tax->{DEFAULT} = 0.0;
       return $tax;
   EOR

or simply produce a table:

   SalesTaxFunction  <<EOR
    return {
        DEFAULT => 0.0,
        IL => 0.075,
        OH => 0.065,
    };
EOR

A DEFAULT value must always be returned or the function will be ignored.

3.70. SaveExpire

The default amount of time that a cookie will be valid (other than the MV_SESSION_ID cookie). The ones used in Interchange by default are MV_USERNAME and MV_PASSWORD for the CookieLogin feature. Specified the same as SessionExpire, with an integer number followed by one of minutes, hours, days, or weeks.

   SaveExpire 52 weeks

Default is 30 days.

3.71. ScratchDefault

The default scratch variable settings that the user will start with when their session is initialized. To disable placing URL rewrite strings after the user has given a cookie, set:

   ScratchDefault  mv_no_session_id  1
   ScratchDefault  mv_no_count       1
   ScratchDefault  mv_add_dot_html   1

3.72. ScratchDir

The directory where temporary files will be written, notably cached searches and retired session IDs. Defaults to tmp in the catalog directory.

   ScratchDir          /tmp

3.73. SearchProfile

Allows an unlimited number of search profiles to be set up, specifying complex searches based on a single click. The directive accepts a file name based in the catalog directory if the path is relative:

   SearchProfile    etc/search.profiles

As an added measure of control, the specification is evaluated with the special Interchange tag syntax to provide conditional setting of search parameters. The following file specifies a dictionary-based search in the file 'dict.product':

 __NAME__ dict_search
 mv_search_file=dict.product
 mv_return_fields=1
 [if value fast_search]
   mv_dict_limit=-1
   mv_last=1
 [/if]
 __END__

The __NAME__ is the value to be specified in the mv_profile variable on the search form, as in

 <INPUT TYPE=hidden NAME=mv_profile VALUE="dict_search">

or with mp=profile in the one-click search.

 [page scan se=Renaissance/mp=dict_search]Renaissance Art[/page]

Multiple profiles can reside in the same file, if separated by __END__ tokens. __NAME__ tokens should be left-aligned, and __END__ must be on a line by itself with no leading or trailing whitespace.

3.74. SecureURL

The base URL for secure forms/page transmissions. Normally it is the same as VendURL except for the https: protocol definition. Default is blank, disabling secure access.

   SecureURL   https://machine.com/xyzcorp/cgi-bin/vlink

3.75. SendMailProgram

The location of the sendmail binary, needed for mailing orders. Must be found at startup. This often needs to be set for FreeBSD or BSDI.

  SendMailProgram    /usr/sbin/sendmail

If set to none, no mail can be sent by standard Interchange facilities. The default is the value in interchange.cfg and varies depending on operating system.

3.76. SeparateItems

Changes the default when ordering an item via Interchange to allowing multiple lines on the order form for each item. The default, No, puts all orders with the same part number on the same line.

Setting SeparateItems to Yes allows the item attributes to be easily set for different instances of the same part number, allowing easy setting of things such as size or color.

   SeparateItems       Yes

Can be overridden with the mv_separate_items variables (both scratch and values).

3.77. SessionDatabase

When storing sessions, specify the name of the directory or DBM file to use. The file extensions of .db or .gdbm (depending on the DBM implementation used) will be appended. If the default file-based sessions are used, it is the name of the directory.

   SessionDatabase     session-data

Can be an absolute path name, if desired.

It is possible for multiple catalogs to share the same session file, as well as for multiple Interchange servers to serve the same catalogs. If serving a extremely busy store, multiple parallel Interchange servers can share the same NFS-based file system and serve users in a "ping-pong" fashion using the file-based sessions. On huge systems, the level of directory hashing may be changed. By default, only 48 * 48 hashing is done. See the source for SessionFile.pm.

3.78. SessionDB

The name of the Interchange database to be used for sessions if DBI is specified as the session type. This is not recommended.

3.79. SessionExpire

A customer can exit the browser or leave the catalog pages at any time, and no indication is given to the web server aside from the lack of further requests that have the same session ID. Old session information needs to be periodically expired. The SessionExpire specifies the minimum time to keep track of session information. Defaults to one day. Format is an integer number, followed by s(econds), m(inutes), h(ours), d(ays), or w(eeks).

   SessionExpire       20 minutes

If CookieLogin is in use, this can be a small value. If the customer's browser has the Interchange session cookie stored, he/she will be automatically logged back in with the next request. Note, however, that the customer's cart and session values will be reset.

3.80. SessionLockFile

The file to use for locking coordination of the sessions.

   SessionLockFile     session-data.lock

This only applies when using DBM-based sessions. It is possible for multiple catalogs to share the same session file. SessionDatabase needs to be set appropriately if the database is to be shared. Defaults to session.lock, which is appropriate for separate session files (and therefore standalone catalogs). Can be an absolute path name, if desired.

3.81. SessionType

The type of session management to be used. Use one of the following:

   DB_File     Berkeley DB
   DBI         DBI (don't use this, normally)
   File        File-based sessions (the default)
   NFS         File-based sessions, forces use of fcntl locking
   GDBM        GDBM

The default is file-based sessions, which provides the best performance and reliablility in most environments.

If you are planning on running Interchange servers with an NFS-mounted filesystem as the session target, you must set SessionType to "NFS". The other requisites are usually:

1. fcntl() supported in Perl 2. lock daemon running on NFS server system 3. lock daemon running on Interchange server

See also the global directive LockType.

3.82. SpecialPage

Sets a special page to other than its default value. Can be set as many times as necessary. Will have no effect if not one of the Interchange Required Pages.

   SpecialPage         checkout ord/checkout
   SpecialPage         failed special/error_on_order
   SpecialPage         interact special/browser_problem
   SpecialPage         noproduct special/no_product_found
   SpecialPage         order  ord/basket
   SpecialPage         search srch/results

3.83. SpecialPageDir

The directory where special pages are kept. Defaults to special_pages in the catalog directory.

   SpecialPageDir      pages/special

3.84. Static

A Yes/No directive. Enables static page building and display features. Default is No.

    Static   Yes

3.85. StaticAll

A Yes/No directive. Tells Interchange to try and build all pages in the catalog statically when called with the static page build option. This is subject to the settings of StaticFly, StaticPath, and NoCache. Default is No. Pages that have dynamic elements will not be built statically, though that may be overridden with [tag flag build][/tag] on the page in question.

    StaticAll   Yes

3.86. StaticDepth

The number of levels of static search building that will be done if a search results page contains a search. Default is one, though it could be very long if set higher. Set to 0 to disable re-scanning of search results pages.

    StaticDepth 2

3.87. StaticDir

The absolute path of the directory which should be used as the root for static pages. The user ID executing Interchange must have write permission on the directory (and all files within) if this is to work.

    StaticDir   /home/you/www/catalog

3.88. StaticFly

A Yes/No directive. If set to Yes, static builds will attempt to generate a page for every part number in the database using the on-the-fly page build capability. If pages are already present with those names, they will be overwritten. The default is No.

    StaticFly   Yes

3.89. StaticPage

Tells Interchange to build the named page (or pages, whitespace separated) when employing the static page-building capability of Interchange. Not necessary if using StaticAll.

    StaticPage   info/about_us  info/terms_and_conditions

3.90. StaticPath

The path (relative to HTTP document root) which should be used in pages built with the static page-building capability of Interchange.

    StaticPath    /catalog

3.91. StaticPattern

A perl regular expression which is used to qualify pages that are to be built statically. The default is blank, which means all pages qualify.

    StaticPattern  ^info|^help

3.92. StaticSuffix

The extension to be appended to a normal Interchange page name when building statically. Default is .html. Also affects the name of pages in the Interchange page directory. If set to .htm, the pages must be named with that extension.

    StaticSuffix   .htm

3.93. Sub

Defines a catalog subroutine for use by the [perl][/perl] or [mvasp] embedded perl languages. Use the "here document" capability of Interchange configuration files to make it easy to define:

   Sub <<EOF
   sub sort_cart_by_quantity {
       my($items) = @_;
       $items = $Items if ! $items;
       my $out = '<TABLE BORDER=1>';
       @$items = sort { $a->{quantity} <=> $b->{quantity} } @$items;
       foreach $item (@$items) {
           my $code = $item->{code};
           $out .= '<TR><TD>';
           $out .= $code;
           $out .= '</TD><TD>';
           $out .= $Tag->data('products', 'name', $code);
           $out .= '</TD><TD>';
           $out .= $Tag->data('products', 'price', $code);
           $out .= '</TD></TR>';
       }
       $out .= '&lt/TABLE>';
       return $out;
   }
   EOF

As with Perl "here documents," the EOF (or other end marker) must be the ONLY thing on the line, with no leading or trailing white space. Do not append a semicolon to the marker. The above would be called with:

   [perl]
       my $cart = $Carts->{main};
       return sort_cart($cart);
   [/perl]

and will display an HTML table of the items in the current shopping cart, sorted by the quantity. Syntax errors will be reported at catalog startup time.

Catalog subroutines may not perform unsafe operations. The Safe.pm module enforces this unless global operations are allowed for the catalog. See AllowGlobal.

3.94. Suggests

Generates a warning message when a Perl module, global UserTag, or GlobalSub is not present at catalog configuration time. Same as the Require directive except not fatal.

   Suggest usertag   table_editor
   Suggest globalsub file_info
   Suggest module    Business::UPS

3.95. TableRestrict

Used to provide "views" in database-based searches. Does not affect the text searches. Affects the table being searched.

Takes the form of field=session_param, where field is a column in the table being iterated over, and session_param is a $Session key (i.e., [data session username]).

   TableRestrict  products  owner=username

The above would prevent the database search from returning any records except those where the column owner contains the current value of [data session username].

Probably most usefully set by embedded Perl code in certain situations. For example:

   [calc]
       # Restrict edit to owned fields
       $Config->{TableRestrict}{products} = 'owner=username';
       return;
   [/calc]

When using SQL-based databases, in effect it turns the base search query

   select * from products

into

   select * from products where owner = '[data session username]'

Interchange databases are similarly affected, though the methodology is different. Also may be useful in "mall" situations, where user is allowed to only see products from the current store ID.

3.96. TaxShipping

A comma or space-separated list of states or jurisdictions that tax shipping cost, i.e., UT. Blank by default, never taxing shipping.

   TaxShipping         UT,NV,94024

3.97. TrackFile

Name of a logfile that tracks user traffic. This is used in the back office administration report on traffic by affiliate.

The default is that no such file is kept.

3.98. UpsZoneFile

The file containing the UPS zone information, specified relative to the catalog directory unless it begins with a /. It can be in the format distributed by UPS or can be in a tab-delimited format, with the three-letter zip prefix of the customer used to determine the zone. It interpolates based on the value in mv_shipmode. A user database named the same as the mv_shipmode variable must be present or the lookup will return zero.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Zone information and updated pricing from UPS must be obtained in order for this to work properly. The zone information is specific to a region!

   UpsZoneFile         /usr/interchange/data/ups_zone.asc

3.99. UseModifier

Determines whether any attributes, the modifiers specified in the directive, can be attached to the item. See Item Attributes. The default is no modifier. Don't use a value of quantity or this directive will not work properly.

   UseModifier         size,color

Some values are used by Interchange and are not legal:

       mv_mi
       mv_si
       mv_ib
       group
       code
       quantity
       item

3.100. ValuesDefault

Sets the initial state of the user values, i.e., [value key] or $Values->{key}.

   ValuesDefault   fname  New
   ValuesDefault   lname  User

When the user session starts, [value fname] [value lname] will be "New User."

3.101. Variable

Defines a catalog variable that will be available in the current catalog with the notation __Variable__. Variable identifiers must begin with a capital letter, and can contain only word characters (A-Z,a-z,0-9 and underscore). These are substituted second (right after global Variables) in any Interchange page, and can contain any valid Interchange tags except global variables.

   Variable   DOCUMENT_ROOT   /usr/local/etc/httpd/htdocs

3.102. VariableDatabase

The name of a database containing a field Variable which will be used to set Interchange variable values. For example, a database defined as:

   Database  var var.txt TAB
   VariableDatabase var

and containing

   code    Variable
   HELLO   Hi!

would cause __HELLO__ to appear as Hi!.

The field name is case-sensitive, and variable would not work.

The values are inserted at time of definition. Any single-level hash-oriented Interchange directive, such as SpecialPage, ScratchDefault, or ValuesDefault, can be set in the same way. If the VariableDatabase named does not exist at definition time, a database of the default type with an ASCII file source appending .txt is assumed. In other words:

   VariableDatabase variable

is equivalent to

   Database         variable variable.txt TAB
   VariableDatabase variable

3.103. VendURL

Specifies the base URL that will run vlink as a cgi-bin program.

       VendURL  http://machine.company.com/cgi-bin/vlink

3.104. WideOpen

Disables IP qualification of user sessions. This degrades catalog security. Do not use unless using encryption or a real-time payment gateway.


Copyright 2001 Red Hat, Inc. Freely redistributable under terms of the GNU General Public License.